Strong finish powers Thomas Larsen to victory in Bowltech Aalborg International 2012

    05/28/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #8

    Beats Martin Larsen by four pins to earn 6.000 Euro for his second EBT title

    2012EBT04ThomasLarsen2.jpg2012EBT04MartinLarsen2.jpgDane Thomas Larsen (pictured left) averaged 242.60 in the final round of the Bowltech Aalborg International 2012 en route to win his second career European Bowling Tour title and the 6.000 Euro top prize Sunday afternoon at Lovvang Bowling Center in Aalborg, Denmark.

    The Danish international, who has won his first EBT tournament 2010 in Catalonia, started the final round in third place with 1126 trailing leader Martin Larsen (right) of Sweden by 100 pins. Larsen posted games of 234, 266, 254, 224 and 235 for 1213 and 2339 total to beat the Swede by four pins.

    2012EBT04DominicBarrett.jpg2012EBT04BrittBrondsted.jpgPBA exempt player Martin Larsen, who is the Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award winner for the 2011-12 PBA Tour season, started the final round with 1226 including the tournament's lone 300 game. He added games of 211, 290, 205 and 209 before a 194 final game sealed his fate. The three-time World Champion had to settle for second place with 2335. PBA champion Dominic Barrett (left) of England was 106 pins behind in third place with 229.

    Former World Ranking Masters and three-time EBT women's ranking champion Britt Brøndsted (right) of Denmark was the best of 37 women in the field of 143 players from 10 countries in fourth place with 2190 including eight pins handicap each game. With her 14th victory of the women's ranking in an EBT tournament including one EBT title (the first Brunswick Euro Challenge in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2004), Brøndsted overtook the lead in the 2012 ranking after eight of 21 events.

    The 9th stop of the 2012 European Bowling Tour, the Odense International, will be held from May 27 through June 3 at 24-lane Odense Bowling Center in Odense, Denmark and offers total prize fund of 20.000 Euro.

    2012TrackDBPOpenLogo_small.jpg The Bowltech Aalborg International 2012 was the eighth stop of the 2012 European Bowling Tour and the fourth out of eight EBT "Silver" tournaments this season. The formerly "Gold" event was held from May 21-27 at 30-lane Lovvang Bowling Center in Aalborg, Denmark.

    The BAI 2012 offered total prize fund of 46.000 Euro, a loss of 14.000 Euro compared to last year, with 6.000 Euro going to the winner, 4.000 Euro to the runner-up and 3.000 Euro to the third place finisher.

    Qualifying ran from Monday May 21 through Saturday, May 26 and concluded with the one-game Desperado Squad at 10 p.m. Women received 8 pins handicap each game, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 40 players advanced to the finals including the top 32 qualifiers, the top 2 of a separate leader board of the squads contested Monday to Wednesday and the top 2 of Thursday's squads plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad. The top 10 qualifiers received two byes, while qualifiers 11-20 bypassed the first round of the finals.

    Two four-game rounds each starting from scratch trimmed the field to 30 and then 20 players, who bowled a five-game Round 3, to cut to the top 10 for the final round. The pinfall total from Round 3 was carried forward. The remaining 10 players bowled another five-game round after which the player with the highest 10-game total including handicap was declared the champion.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 21 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event earn ranking points based on how they finish in the event. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament such as the Bowltech Aalborg International 2012 earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 16 men and top 16 women who will compete in the sixth EBT Masters in Bratislava, Slovakia in Sept. 2013.

     


    Final Round 4


    Final Standings with 10-game total and earnings.

     


    Final Round 3


    The top 10 advance to the final round. Places 11-20 were eliminated, earn 900 Euro.

     


    Final Round 2


    The top 10 advance to the third round. Places 11-20 were eliminated, finish 21st to 30th, earn 700 Euro.

     


    Final Round 1


    The top 10 advance to the second round. Places 11-20 were eliminated, finish 31st to 40th, earn 600 Euro.

     


    Standings after Qualifying and Desperado Squad


    The top 32 qualifiers and the top 2 each of Squads 4-6 (places 33-34) and Squads 1-3 (places 35-36) plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad (places 37-40).

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